LONDONDERRY RIOTS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3323, 30 October 1919, Page 6

LONDONDERRY RIOTS.

SEQUEL TO PROCESSION.

I_I§’OL"ICE AND SOLDIERS CHARGE.

SATURNALIA OF V\’INDOW-

BREAKING.

Ri-oting broke out in Lond-onderry on Lady Day (August 15) and lasted all night. The aifair followed a. Lady Day procession, which passed off practically without incident. The processionists had nothing to do with -the outbreak, which took place many hours. after‘The country visitors had gone home. Yet lied there been no procession, no riot would have occurred. The proces-. sion was, in the main, orderly, but it} carried Sinn Fein flags. Also on the! electric standard at the- head of Bridge 1 Street, a. Sinn Fein bannerette fluttered i all day well within sight of the ex‘-. clusively Protestant population in Fountain Street, which begins just across Carlyle Road. Further, an arch gl-orifying De Valera spanned Bridge Street, near its head. These being the con‘di'ti‘ons, it was, perhaps, natural that there should be a Rornan Catholic and a. Protestant crowd, -each in its own quarter, watching the doings of the other, and responding to every cllallenge. However, nothing happened all“ day. beyond the singing of “Th.e Soldiers ’Song,” and .‘‘The Boys of We»! ford” on the one side and the waving of Union Jacks and the singing of ‘«‘'God Save the King” on ‘-the other.’ A ' police or military force was constantly ‘ present to keep the parties quiet. 1 NEW FACTOR INTI>.oD'UcEnI Towards nightfall at certain liveliness I almost. iinperceptibly developed. Abontl 10 o’clock the Nationalists set fire to a I large bonfire beneath the D.e Valera’ arch; and there was what seemed to be an organised singing -of “The Soldiers.’ Song.” The military cordon was thereupon strengthened. Soon stones-3 began to fly. A few revolver-shots rangout, and the air became charged with party passion. The police decided that the opposing crowds were noo near I each other for safety, so baton charges up l‘-contain Street and down Bcvdge Street were ordered. Now here is has i to be pointed out ‘that while in most_ riots in the past the Nationalists have proved the superior. tacticians by re—’ tiring from :thc battlefield after get-[ ting the Protestant party entangled‘ witth the police, on this occasion the‘ award for strategy must go :to the! Orangenien, for when charged they re— 5 treated, and thereafter became 011-.‘ lockers from a, clistance, leaving thel police and the Pr.-idge Streeticrowd to [ fight it out. ‘ " I

Many baton charges down Bridge Street’ became necessary to check the volleys of stones, and the police describe ‘the Bridge Streetersas having fought them with great determination‘. . ‘After midnight still more Dorset men v}ere brought up. From this time on a new factor‘ had to be reckoned With. 1 Nationalists from =the:‘Bogside district,’ in which the main body of Roman “Catholics live, appear to ha.ve received the 8.0.8. from their Bridge Street friends; at all events they welled up through Butcher Street, crossed‘ the Diamond, and arrived in‘ Ferryquay Street, the leading shore centre of the city. By this ‘Lime it was as nearly as possible pitch dark, no street lamps unfortunately having been arranged for. It was this Bogside tontingent which contained the subsequent rio’-ters. 'Gl'«adual:ly the .=T2.t.!‘€llgth of the contingent grew, and’ a’ party of soldiers was ordered to drive .them back along Ferryquay Street. Ol_)Viously the crowd should never have been allowed out of the Bogside, or, having arrived on the scene of excitement. they should have been permanently driven back." Instead the soldiers merely put them back 20 or 30 yards. and then fell back. The crowd na-turally followed these rushes, and withdrawals, went on between 1 and 2 am. About then developed va saturnalia of windoW-l3l'eak-Eng, whfcli formed the climax of the Ilight’s events. Troops and police were ordered finally to clear Ferryquay Street. As the crowd retired they Sl1l€l.'~.‘llC(l nearly every plateglass Window along the route. Thus in less than a quarter of an. hour hundreds of pounds cvorth.ot' damage was done, To make a complete job of it ‘a man was seen using a long-handled sliovel onythe windows, _He could not be‘, izdentifie-d in the darkness. _ V " _ BULLET AT THE :DEAN!E[RY.\

The soldiers drove ‘the ‘wl'ecke_l-s across the Diamond _ into: Butchexj Street or up Bishop Street. Somc-,_of the latter \\'x'CckP(l -th_eir_vengoa.nceon, the Deanery, in whieh . -‘three _pa.nos. were broken. A. splinter of sash found shows that one of-the‘missile-s was a hullet. An attenlpt was made to force Open the gate, but was not persevered in. Windows were also broken in the Courthouse. The police now ‘taking the place of the soldiers held the loot} ers at bay untilndaylight. and wtere the means of saving the smoke or“ many" shops, 1 t

Many of the D-orsots are -_young‘ follows to whom the night '.m.< :1 firs-t infroducfion to disorde“. They stood 1-ernarkably well the ozfieal of being for hours the ta'rge.ts of ':3.r-ssailaan-fs

upon wh-om they could not retaliate, but they had the disadvanatage of constantly fearing to find‘ themselves sudldenly in such »a position‘ as might lead to their rifles being wrenched fl'oln them in ‘the darkness. Even when they chairgesd with fixed bayonets, they did not do so after the whole-hearted fashion of actual warfare, and properly so, for while the situation was serious it was at no

time serious enough to justify the taking of life. The police, leaving in barracks the revolvers they have carried of late, were armed only with their batons——far more effective against a crowd zthan firearms. Anyhow in the result no: bitterness has followed *the sudden outbrea.k~——only this, that the ratepayers will have to pay a big bill in compensation for sthe broken glass and stolen property.